1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flexibly elastic and reflective tip for various sorts of sticks such as a single-handed cane, a crutch, etc., and in more particular, for sticks targeted for night use by aged persons, by physically handicapped persons, patients and/or injured persons.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Generally, various sorts of sticks with tips have been known so far, and most of those sticks are equipped respectively with elastic tips formed of rubber, etc., on the lowermost end of the stick.
In recent years, flexibly elastic tips employing a ball joint have also been known.
In case of the above-mentioned elastic tip, the tip can attain its initial purpose of preventing the stick from slipping if the stick is applied perpendicular to the ground. However, in ordinary walks, especially on slopes or steps, it is difficult to always keep the stick perpendicular to the ground, wherein the tip contacts slant against the ground and cannot assure the stable condition for its effective use. An elastic tip equipped with a V-shape annular concave groove (Laid-Open Utility Model No. 58-139919) and the one with a constricted groove (Laid-Open Utility Model No. 6-26525) are also known, which are neither responsive nor durable enough in case of a slant use of a stick.
On the other hand, although the latter tip can solve the problem and deficiency of the former tip, the ball joint constitution makes the tip structure complicated. Besides, the movable portion embracing the ball appears outside, being exposed as a a sliding part so that dust and sand on roads are liable to enter the inside through the discrepancy formed between the ball and the movable portion, resulting in mechanical troubles.
In order to solve these problems, the applicant of the present invention proposed a flexibly elastic tip for stick use with no movable portion nor sliding part, monolithically formed as a whole providing an annular concavity, and simply constituted, which is flexibly deformable, to have a good restoring function and the stick shod with the same, as a series of invention under the Patent Application No. 10-152928 and No. 11-6922. In addition to those two inventions, the applicant proposed a further improved type of a flexibly elastic tip for stick use and a stick shod with the same, under the Patent Application No. 11-94939, having no looseness of the connection of the tip and the lowermost end of the stick for assuring a firmly-fixed and stable junction, thereby attaining more comfortable use of the stick.
In Patent Application Nos. 11-6922 and 10-351500, the applicant also proposed a tip having a reflection plate on a part of the outside periphery of the tip, which glitteringly reflects headlights of automobile vehicles, street lights, etc. to show up the user, so that it can assure safe walking at night or in darkness.
In addition to said inventions formerly proposed and applied by the applicant, the present invention is aimed at providing a more decent-looking flexibly elastic and reflective tip for stick use, with a specular surface of a serrated or wave formed sectional view on the upper periphery of the tip itself to improve the reflectivity, and at making the reflective member cylindrical and compact directly or by pressing for the purpose of easy forming and affixing. Further, the tip itself can be comprised mainly of hard elastic rubber or hard elastic synthetic resin so as to be easily and assuredly fixed with the lowermost end of the stick pipe.